The Other Path
by Beccuin
Summary: Where Tatsumi, Sayo and Ieyasu never separated and all three made it to the capital together. Read as they work to raise their ranks in the imperial army while meeting many different types of people and learning that the definition of 'good' and 'bad' isn't just black and white.


"Tatsumi! Go attack from the right!" Sayo commanded from somewhere behind him. "Ieyasu you attack the front." The trio was currently trying to take down the earth dragon that had blocked the only open path to the capital that they knew.

"Wh-what! Why the front? What if it lands a hit on me! Can't Tasumi take the front?" Ieyasu protested while dodging a swipe of the beast's claws.

"Uhh guys now's not the time to be doing this" Tatsumi tried to cut in, also dodging the earth-dragon's claws.

"I can't believe you're complaining right this second! Follow Tatsumi's example and just swing your big axe!" Sayo yelled back as she notched an arrow and aimed her bow.

Another swipe of claws and the two boys ran forward, Tatsumi jumped high in the air and rolled in a way that'll create more force in his swing once he reached the beast. Ieyasu aimed for the weak points in the legs of the beast and Sayo aimed for the eyes. Soon enough the beast was easily taken down, the trio not feeling tired at all.

"T-that was amazing! You guys are strong!" Two capital foot soldiers jogged up towards them. Their carriage had been stopped because the earth dragon, if the three teens hadn't shown up they would have had a real problem.

Tatsumi, who had his back facing them turned around with a pleased smirk "Hehe that was nothing! We need to be at least that strong to make it big in the capital!"

The two soldiers began to feel uncomfortable. "The capital you say?... I'd be careful that place has worse monsters than that" one explained while nervously checking the area to see if there were any eavesdroppers.

"Haaah? You mean there are even danger beasts in the capital? Lameee" Ieyasu drawled, he holstered his axe and put his hands behind his head.

"Oy Ieyasu be more polite!" Sayo harshly whispered to her friend and gave him a harsh wack on the head earning a sharp Ow! From the boy.

"No, he means the residents, there are a bunch of monstrous humans in the capital. You three should watch your backs." The second man said.

"O-oh… well thanks for the advice we'll be on our way then" Sayo said while grabbing the two boys by their collars and dragging them down the path towards the capital.

"Hey Sayo, what they said about the monstrous humans… that can't be true right? I mean it's the capital! The dream of every country boy is to go and make a name for themselves in the capital! They were talking as if it was a bad place…" Tatsumi questioned the smarter of his two friends.

"I don't know Tatsumi… I just feel like we shouldn't dismiss their advice" the archer responded. The rest of their journey was filled with bantering between the three, each coming up with ridiculous theories about what the capital was like.

XxX

"I'm tired!" Tatsumi exclaimed once Sayo allowed the two males to have a break from all the walking they did. They were currently in the outskirts of the capital looking for a recruitment office, Sayo had went to go ask for directions and left the boys to find a spot to rest.

"Me too Tatsu.. me too" Ieyasu inputted from beside him.

The capital looked fairly peaceful so far, but Tatsumi found that it was a bit too quiet in the area.

Suddenly a loud yell came from his left which Tatsumi whipped his head to in order to see what was going on. He saw a tall man grabbing a significantly shorter looking female, upon further inspection he noticed that the female was Sayo. Instead of running to assist his friend Tatsumi poked at Ieyasu to get the other male's attention "Hey Ieyasu, look over there! Someone is about to get their ass handed to them" he said while pointing in the direction of the commotion.

Ieyasu slowly looked to where Tatsumi was pointing and burst out laughing "Haha! The poor guy."

The two watched as Sayo grabbed hold of the man's arm and swiftly used one of her feet to knock the guy off balance. She then used the momentum and swung him onto his back. Even from where they were sitting Tatsumi and Ieyasu could hear the thump of the man's body as he hit the ground.

Sayo, now irritated strided over to her two friends and crossed her arms in anger "Hmph! Some people have no manners! I swear that man was worse than Ieyasu! At least I managed to find out where the recruitment building is. Let's go there now so we can get a place to sleep."

"Hey! What do you mean worse than me! I don't try to grab random girls!" Ieyasu yelled at his two friends who had already grabbed their things and were walking away from the axe-wielder.

Once they made it to the building the three each shared smiles with one another, without wasting any time excitedly talking about how they finally made it to their destination they entered the building and walked up to the front desk. A bored looking man looked up at the three "So you're applicants too? Fill out these forms and bring them back to me" he monotonously said while handing each of them a sheet.

"Ehhh! This means we'll be starting from the very bottom! Here, I'll show you my skills right here and now and then you'll have to promote me!" Tatsumi made a move to unsheathe his sword but before he could Sayo hit him on the head. "Ouch! What was that for?" he said, moving his hands to the newly forming bump and turning to look at his friend.

"You idiot! Don't cause a ruckus! Of course we'll start out on the bottom, but with our skills we'll be noticed and rise in ranks soon enough! Have you not listened to any of the village chief's lectures?" She whispered angrily at him.

Tatsumi calmed down and looked to the ground ashamed "Yeah… I got it."

The three then hurriedly filled out their forms and handed them in. The bored man looked them over and stamped the papers "Follow that guy over there, he'll lead you to the barracks where you'll be sleeping with the other newbies during your training" the man pointed towards an armor-clad man who was standing by the door.

They nodded their heads and walked towards the man. The soldier merely looked each of them over, gauging their skill and nodded his head "I'll be taking you to the trainee quarters, the females and males are separated and you are to follow the orders of your superiors no matter what. With that follow me."

They followed the soldier to a large stone building, the man stopped outside of the two wooden double doors and turned to look at the trio once more "this is as far as I go, you need to go in and talk to the trainee commander who is in the room that is behind the double doors which are right in front of you as soon as you walk in, I wish you three good luck." Without another word or glance back the man left.

Once the serious soldier had gotten a fair distance away from the trio they each brightly smiled and joined one another in a group hug, all three jumping excitedly up and down. "We made it! We're actually going to become soldiers in the capital! We can bring glory to our village now!" The three happily exclaimed.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah soooo aiming for them to go into the army atm... they will meet Night Raid, the Jaegers and all those other crazy characters.<strong>


End file.
